Michael Parenteau

This is a great question for anyone to ask. What are we here for? What do I want to contribute? Great Questions! I beleive that I have manifested to stay creative! The lessons in life provide problems and solutions... a trial and error process. I don't see it too much differently for anyone really. I truely beleive the tagline at the top of this site, "Creativity is a blessing upon the world". I go through each day striving to learn something new and share it with someone I love. Family!!! Now there's another great gift that I appreciate daily. This isn't my professional side talking here... I don't want you to get the wrong idea! This is the "General Interests" section of my site... you know, what are my general interests? These are the things that mean most to me. Family and Art / Creativity / Design. It is here that I find my passion.

There are other obvious questions to answer. When I say I love art, the most common response is, "What kind?". Well, I like to paint, draw, and pretty much do anything to get my hands dirty. Something is wonderful about starting with something really basic like ink or panin... and working it into a thought processed projection. You step away then back and find out so much about the unknown self. I look at what I made and say, "Wow! I didn't know I had it in me!"... or at least it feels good to witness something done at the end of the day. I also love computer art! Graphic design and web development really fascinate me. I love Apple computers and Adobe software. Really great music and cinema also occupy my attention quite a bit.

I was born Aug. 3, 1978 in Springfield, Massachussets. That's where Dr. Suess was born. Growing up was great! I have a really big family on my mom's side of the so there was always something going on. I come from pretty creative stock. My mom loves to sing and dance. She is also pretty good with decor and fashion. My love for cooking definately came from her! She makes a really great pasta sauce. My dad could reproduce a photo. Charcoal was his thing. He was also pretty good in the wood shop. Overall I was allowed to express myself and encouraged to creatively occupy my time.

When I moved to Ohio in the fourth grade, it wasn't always easy being the new kid. Most of the other kids already had best friends and I didn't always fit in. Massachussetts and Ohio have some real personality differences! It was then that I found that the apple didn't fall to far from the tree. I had a real interest in the arts. My mom's brother, Tom, just started to build homes and I hung around the job-site often. I watched the ground get dug, the frame get built... all the way to finish. I saw the blueprints for the houses and realized that before it can be built... someone had to draw it.

By the time I had made it to high school I had decided I was going to go to art school and make a creative living for myself. I just couldn't stop working for something out-of-the-box! I was really fortunate to have a program here in Columbus at the HS level for the Fine Arts. I had all studio time for four and a half hours a day for five days a week. Painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking were all part of the curriculum. We were chosen out of thousands of kids in Central Ohio to attend here. All of us left with college funding and awards.

I left Ohio when I graduated to attend Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR. It was the trees, coast, waterfalls, and mountains that wooed me. The air is just so clean out there! There is also a great arts community! events every Sat, and two thursdays a month... artists and craftsmen share their work with the world outside of the studio. Needless to say, I got restless with school and I wanted in on the real world action. I am not saying that I think school isn't real or really great.... I just wanted to be working on my art. So, I traveled and actually ended living in Napa, CA for a couple of years and then in San Francisco. I spent many days in the MOMA there studying Matisse and Picasso. There is so much art in SF that I really got exposed to quite a bit! I really love the murials all over the Mission, the underground performance art scene, and the poster art of the 60's for Psychedelic Rock concerts at the Fillmore. I couldn't stop there though. I kept traveling... and eventually ended back where I had started on the west coast, Portland.

I have had over a hundered showings of my art in the past ten years. My work has travelled the country to all of the main-land states. I have made friends all over and have found support for my creative abilities in so many ways and from so many people. It just has started to begin I kept thinking. This is it. I will find what I am looking for. Some years later and some years ago, I visited a frien who was getting married in Napa. I met my wife and the mother of my beautiful little girl there and now the fun is really happening! I have never found my self so focused before. They pushed me to find the creativity in the toughest of times... and continued to do so for the rest of my time in Portland.

We moved back here to Columbus, OH. Wow! I never thought I would come back here, but like I said erlier... I have a really great Family! Since I have been in Columbus, I have solely made my living as a graphic designer for print and for web! Over the years I had studied using Photoshop and Flash animation. I have had an apple computer for some time now and I absolutely love Apple. You name it... me and my computer can do it... or at least make a pretty good attempt to. I started a graphic design business with my brother Tim - Intuit Imaging, LLC. We have worked for a year together on this and have done some really great work for some really great people.

I currently live in Columbus, OH with my wife Jennifer and our daughter Sophia Rose. I am a designer / artist by trade and am always looking for a creative project. I am illustrating and painting regularly and incorporating my "dirty work" into my design. Life is good, full of family, and I would not have made any decisions differently at this point. You can catch me at home most of the time working away at a new project... striving to spread creativity throughout my community. Right now I am currently seeking full-time employment with a design group or firm. I am most interested in web design and development. I want to grow with other talented individuals and be challenged on a day to day basis.